Komal shines in BP XI loss to England XI in practice game

Mumbai, Feb 18 - Left-arm pacer Komal Zanzad took three wickets but Board President's XI lost to England XI by two wickets in a practice game at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.

Board President's XI failed to defend their modest score of 154 despite Komal rocking the visitors with her devastating spell of 3/9 in her first six overs.

The tourists were tottering on 11/4 by the fifth over before Heather Knight steadied the ship with an unbeaten 64 off 86 balls and guided the England eves past the finish line in the 38th over. England made 157/8.

Apart from Komal, Reemalaxmi Ekka and spinner Tanuja Kanwer picked up two wickets apiece.

Earlier, the BP XI lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out in 49 overs with lower order batswoman Minnu Mani top-scoring with 28 from 57 balls that contained one of the two sixes struck in the innings.

The practice game will be followed by three ICC Championship 50-over contests between England and India at this venue on February 22, 25 and 28.

The hosts won the toss and got off to a good start of 27 runs at a good rate before losing two wickets in successive overs.

In-form opener Smriti Mandhana was the first to go, caught behind off Anya Shrubsole after starting aggressively with four fours.

S Meghana then departed for 1 in the fifth over to leave the BP XI 29/2.

Opener Priya Punia (15) and Harleen Deol (21) tried to stem the rot but the visitors struck three quick blows to send back both these players as well as Veda Krishnamurthy and half the side was back with 70 on the board.

Bharti Fulmali (23) and wicketkeeper R.Kalpana (10) laboured past 100 runs before both were packed off in successive balls of different overs.

Minnu added 29 runs for the eighth wicket with Tanuja and then 14 more with last batsman Reemalaxmi to take the tally past the 150 mark.

England were jolted by the loss of four quick wickets, three of those by Komal.

Opener Tamsin Beaumont, captain-cum-keeper Sarah Taylor and Natalie Sciver were removed by Komal in her first three overs, while the wicket of the other opener Amy Jones was taken by Reemalaxmi.

Heather then took control and struck nine fours with Danielle Wyatt (22) before the latter lost her wicket to spinner Tanuja.

England later struggled again at 79/7 but a 39-run partnership between the set Heather and Shrubsole (23 with 5 fours) brought them back.

Heather guided the visitors past the target in the company of Laura Winfield, who remained unbeaten on 23.

Brief scores: Board President's XI 154 in 49 overs (Minnu Mani 28; Anya Shrubsole 4 for 30) lost to England XI 157 for 8 in 37.3 overs (Heather Knight 64; Komal Zanzad 3 for 14) by 2 wickets.

IANS